Submitted 4 months ago by CileTheSane@lemmy.ca to games@lemmy.world
I haven’t played a Metroidvania in a while and I’m looking for suggestions of some good ones to try. Some I would recommend:
Ender’s: Lilies (Magnolias is good too, but play Lilies first. The setting and theme hits better.)
Ori and the Blind Forest / Will of the Wisps (Will of the Wisps did bring a tear to my eye)
Monster Sanctuary (a creature capture metroidvania)
Any system is good, interested to hear of other good ones that are out there.
La-Mulana 1 and 2. They have excellent music, and more importantly, the exploration is a lot more interesting than most metroidvania games. This is because these games are all about puzzles, which come in the form of riddles, lateral thinking, and so forth. You don’t complete any area in one go - rather, each place you can go has information about the other zones, so you criss-cross and cross-reference, completing them piecemeal. Plus, there is a great deal of cultural architecture for each area, making them very distinct. If you want an lengthy and difficult metroidvania that is all about the details, this fits the bill.
The original freeware version of La-Mulana is also worth playing, due to the audio and graphics resembling what could be on the MSX computer.
Hollow knight and silksong are both the best to ever do it IMO
Metroid dread
I would like it so much more if it didn’t have that dumb parry mechanic.
Currently playing Animal Well, and it is excellent so far!
I want to like it so much, but I enjoy combat in my metroidvanias.
Besides all the already mentionend games: Shadow Complex (2009) was a good game back then. Nothing special without any real story. But it was fun to play
If you like 8-bit gaming, I recommend getting the free BBC micro emulator BeebEm
Then get the ROM Citadel
It’s a Metroidvania from before either Metroid or Castlevania. It still plays well, it’s still difficult, the puzzles are logical but require thought, and it’s several hours of gameplay to complete.
Darksiders is very good
You know at first I didn’t really think it would be considered one, but looking back you’re absolutely right. I really need to replay those games.
Seeing as I am old. Super Metroid and Castlevania II: Simom’s Quest. I can… and have played them dozens of times through at this point.
I don’t care much for metroidvanias but Dust: An Elysian Tail was fun for a playthrough or two.
Aquaria. Very retro indie game from 2007. Underwater theme.
Some of my faves that aren’t Hollow Knight:
Hollow Knight. It’s the only one I actually played to the end.
La-Mulana was great. Maybe not for everyone. It’s loaded with puzzles.
That’s a gentle way to put it 😆. But I agree it’s so great. Need to get back into it at some point.
Yeah… It’s pretty brutal. I needed to consult a walkthrough even for subsequent playthroughs.
Supraland
I wanted to enjoy this game, but it gave me hardcore motion sickness after about 10 minutes. I haven’t had that happen in very many games, so it was notable in this one.
Sorry to hear that. In my opinion it’s a great metroidvania and puzzle game. It reminds me of Zelda and Portal too
Can I half-cheat and say Control?
Is it a metroidvania?
It is… kind of. Hence the half-cheat. First off it’s 3D, but the game is completely centered around the Oldest House, which is the headquarters of the fictional FBC. Like a Metroidvania you explore and backtrack back and forth through it and unlock new areas opening up from previous places. There is also one (although only one) proper ability gate that lets you explore previously unreachable parts of earlier areas once unlocked.
Even if you don’t classify it as a true Metroidvania it’s definitely Metroidvania-inspired.
Ori. Both of them.
They are works of high art.
It’s a little old and more Metroid- than -vania: A Robot Named Fight
| love super metroid even if the control scheme is dated
Axiom Verge. I don’t know how they managed to improve on the feeling of Super Metroid, but they did it.
Agreed both are really good games. One of the few games I’ve 100%
If you havent played the sequel I would recommend it. It definitely is not the same as the original but is still really solid and hopefully there will be further games
I really like Rabi-ribi
Its my no.1 genre… i have played A LOT of them. People have already hit on the “big three” - hollow knight, super metroid and castlevania SOTN… heres lesser mentioned gems… sure, they’re not as incredible as those 3 genre topping master pieces, but theyre super super good and worth a play.
*yes, there could be called “zelda-likes” instead of metroid vanias, but i always felt those two game designs were kissing cousins… if you like one you might like the other.
** these are romhacks…,very very good ones. You need a rom of super metroid and emulator to play em.
Solid list!
but i always felt those two game designs were kissing cousin
I see them as the same genre. You have this “pushing the map’s frontier” mechanic, along with some power or item progression to enable that. The rest is find-and-seek to connect all those dots. IMO, the only major difference is a side vs top-down perspective.
Its true… i think the fundamental formula is that it makes you an explorer first- turns you loose with a very vague objective and lets you discover… map, traversal, sequence skips, w/e and gives you “clues” while letting you feel empowered to do things in your own order/way/time
Ayyyy plus one on both Carrion and Supraland! Loved both of those. I can’t wait to get the latest Surpaland game (Supraworld iirc?). Such a fun puzzle platformer.
Waiting for the game to complete development before I give it a try!
Sundered: eldritch edition
Super Metroid Animal well Castlevania: SOTN
I haven’t seen it mentioned and granted I’ve not played it but I’ve watched both be played and Blasphemy 1 and 2 seems really, really good.
I don’t know, I played Blasphemous this summer and had a very mixed time with it. I really wanted to love it but it mostly pissed me off. Too much gameplay design specifically intended to waste your time and make you miserable. Which - I guess - is the point because the game is all about the virtue of suffering. I just didn’t find it particularly fun to play.
Great world building, music and art though.
Castlevanias: Aria of Sorrow, Order of Eclessia, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin (no, no Symphony on my top-top list, it’s awesome, but not that awesome);
Ori and the Blind Forest mentioned already;
Axiom Verge 1 and 2;
Some call it heresy, but… Dark Souls! bit harder, bit turn-based (combat, aye, heresy x2, but stamina system makes it turn based for me, thats wild)… but running all around, having maze with many options, each boss unlocks new paths and parts of map… 200% metroidvania to me.
+1 for the Castlevania Aria/Dawn of Sorrow games. The Soma Cruz games were where the series truly hit its peak.
Portrait of Ruin was alright. I enjoyed that they found a way to incorporate more varied environments into the series.
Order of Ecclesia took me a while to start enjoying. The weird hybrid 3D graphics threw me off at first. Once I got past that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ori series, specifically Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It’s my absolute favorite game of all time. It’s got the amazing visuals and insanely good OST, crisp and satisfying platforming and combat, engaging and unique bossfights, good difficulty settings and going for 100% is rewarding and not nearly as annoying as in many other games. While it may stray a tiny bit from the classic Metroidvania formula I think it still does it incredibly well.
Supraland
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Castlevania Symphony of the Night.
It’s only $3 on play store and iPhone store. The phone version has the advantage that you only have to cast/input each spell once, and then you have a button to press.